The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Townley, Captain William
Townley, Captain William, J.P., Sheriff of Queensland, was born in Lancashire in 1836, and educated in Scotland and Germany. He held a commission in the Scotch militia, and subsequently in the army, serving in England and India. He arrived in Queensland in 1863, and engaged in squatting pursuits. Captain Townley entered the Civil Service in August 1868, as Gold Commissioner for the Jimna Diggings, and was transferred to Gympie. He was appointed Commissioner for the Gilbert goldfields in 1869, police magistrate at Rockhampton in 1871, and at Ipswich in 1872, Superintendent of the Penal Establishment at St. Helena in 1882, and Sheriff and Inspector of Prisons in July 1888. Whilst at Ipswich, Captain Townley was appointed to the command of No. 2 Battery Q.V.A.